Capri Palmer can spin on aerial silks and navigate a Chinese Pole routine, and even has a bottle-juggling balancing act. With her certificate-level training, she had hoped to enrol in Australia's only degree program for circus, at the National Institute of Circus Arts (NICA) in 2024. But when NICA's owner Swinburne University of Technology pressed pause on the year's intake in 2023, her circus training was left up in the air - a frustrating experience for the talented 21-year-old.
"It was difficult to decide whether to go back to Queensland, where the rest of my life is, or stay down here and find somewhere to train," Palmer told AAP. With half a dozen other aspiring circus artists, she completed a partially funded year of extra training and is finally auditioning for the sought-after degree as it starts taking new students again in 2025. "I'm feeling really good, really ready.
I'm auditioning with Chinese Pole, which is a bit out of my comfort zone, but I think it's a good challenge," she said. As well as presenting a specialist act during the gruelling two-day auditions held at the NICA Prahran campus, prospective students are tested on dozens of circus skills, any one of which would be next to impossible for an average person. They include roundoffs, front and back flips, three cartwheels in a row, and a wall handstand that lasts 90 seconds.
While NICA says it's looking for those who give "more sparkle than spreadsheet", there's also some serious administration underway be.